FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Vanderbilt continued to play wonderful golf Saturday and will take a 12-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the Mason Rudolph Championship.
The Commodores (-32) were a second-round best 14-under-par as a team Saturday at the Vanderbilt Legends Club. Liberty nearly matched Vanderbilt by shooting with a 13-under-par 271 before the Dores stretched their lead back out over the final few holes of the afternoon.
Vanderbilt made 13 birdies and an eagle on the back nine.
“I thought as a team I thought we looked good, did some kind of not-great things, got a little lazy on a few things we had been on top of in terms of our self-talk,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “But for us to win the day at the end of the day on moving day says a lot about the kind of character and purpose and grit of the team.
“I just thought they hung in there.”
Vanderbilt’s Cole Sherwood continues to hold the overall individual lead at 12-under-par. His second round 67 included an eagle on 14 and three birdies on the front nine.
Sherwood has a four-shot lead on teammate Reid Davenport and Liberty’s Jonathan Yaun who are both eight-under-par.
Davenport was bogey-free Saturday and climbed into a tie for second place thanks to a 66. The senior birdied four of his final six holes.
Gordon Sargent, who scored a birdie on three of his final four holes, is tied for eighth at 5-under-par after shooting a 70 on Saturday. Harrison Ott carded six birdies and is tied for 10th at 4-under-par while
William Moll (+1) is tied for 40th overall.
“I had a good feeling about Harry going into the day. Probably didn’t play the way he wanted to (Friday) but I just knew he would show up today,” Limbaugh said. “I’m super excited for him to hang in there and birdie his last two holes after bogeying 16 – so I thought that was big for him and big for our team.
“Gordon makes a sloppy bogey on 14 but just kind of finds a way to birdie 15, birdie 17 and birdie 18. Sherwood didn’t have his best stuff from the tee today, but just managed his game and made some key par putts. Reid was obviously big – he was the one guy that was in control all day. That was big for our team.”
Jackson Van Paris, Matthew Riedel and Michael Shears are all competing as individuals this weekend and all reside inside the top 30 going into the final round. Van Paris (-3) and Riedel (-3) are each tied for 15th overall while Shears (-1) is tied for 30th.
Vandy, as a team, found eight birdies through its first nine holes as it tried to offset four bogeys and hold off the hard-charging Flames of Liberty who at one point was within three shots. Sherwood rebounded from a bogey on seven – his first of the tournament – to birdie the eighth and made the turn at 2-under-par for the round and -10 for the event.
Vanderbilt will be in the final grouping starting at 11:30 a.m. alongside Liberty and Tennessee.
Live scoring for Sunday’s final round can be found HERE.
“Just want us to finish strong. We’re trying to be a better version of us,” Limbaugh said. “I think it’s a really important day for us because we want to finish the tournament the right way. We won the first day, we won the second day and we’re just trying to be the best we can be. I don’t want to put a limit on that.
“I appreciate the support we’ve had and would love to have that against Sunday. Sunday is a really important day for us and really excited to watch ur boys have the opportunity to compete at home one last time this year.”
